Dan L

I used to come to OB all the time, as hopefully some people may remember, and I do remember there's always been quite a family-ish vibe to it.. Sadly lately I've been a bit absent (lately?! Does 3 years or so count as just "lately", or is it just time to admit that probably half the time I've been here, I've not actually been here at all) so, given that people started changing names and stuff, around when I stopped being around so regularly, I don't even know if I recognise a lot of the people in this thread or generally around : p

Last year I spent about £700 (close to about $1200 I reckon) on a USB mixing desk for my music software : p the sad thing about it though is that I hardly use it- which is mainly because it just takes up so much space, and I'm really bad at actually finishing anything so as to mix it down properly..

Damn this thread... I was doing so well, too.. It's been a good couple of years since I last heard of this game and I can honestly say I've not given it any thought in the meantime : p

Wow, it's been a loooooong time since I posted anything on OB.. must be at least a year, probably more.. I'm 23 now : p. And since I posted on OB last, I've actually found someone I really like (not for the first time obviously)- but this time things worked out, and we've been together for just over 6 months. I'd say I'm more on the older end of people dating- purely because Abi's the first girlfriend I've ever had, not so much due to lack of effort as lack of success finding someone where the feeling was mutual. And well, I'd say the key to love in a relationship is actually getting to know the person. I've seen far too many relationships which are purely physical, which is justified by the fact that the two people "love" each other.. when actually- in my opinion at least- that's not really love so much as lust.. because in order to love someone you have to have at least some understanding of what they're like, rather than just enjoying some crazy physical thing with someone you don't really know, which barely works out. For example, Abi and I aren't in a sexual relationship.. which is more because we're both Christians than anything and think it's necessary to respect that the level of committment we actually have to the relationship right now isn't enough to justify that (which is another way of saying "we shouldn't until we're married".. only it's more of a reason than a rule).. but also, we haven't even kissed yet, which actually has very little to do with that reasoning, and was more because we were both perfectly happy with the ways we already have of being affectionate, and we both feel there's just no need to rush. However, just cos we haven't done that, it doesn't mean we're a completely bizarre couple.. you probably wouldn't even notice unless you spent loads of time around us and thought "hang on.. why have I never seen them kiss?" But yeah, I do love Abi, and the main thing for us is that we're in a relationship, and that means actually knowing each other, rather than just using each other- which, innocent as it may seem or be intended as.. lust, in my opinion, isn't really any more than that

[quote name='tasu22889']if yo u know alchemy then you know god has everything to do with anything,lol,i have books and such,lol[/quote]..... "lol,i have books and such,lol"... come on! do you really expect to win anyone over with that??!? Even I don't believe you and I'm a Christian!! [quote name='tasu22889']sorry i dont ask for help from others,if I cant figure it out then i dont use it and jsut say what's on my mind,and I'm back on topic.[/quote] And another thing.. just saying you're back on topic, doesn't make you back on topic.. you have to say something on-topic!! Maybe god does hate us all.. quite frankly there'd be plenty of good reason for it.. I'm not talking about personal sin, but the sheer lack of justice in the world. Let's just say God exists, and he cares about justice as much as the Bible says he does.. and he gets really pissed at us because we hog all the resources we possibly can, exploit everyone we possibly can who is "below" us, and all sorts of other crimes against the less fortunate. 5% of the world apparently owns nearly 95% of it's wealth, or something daft in those kinds of proportions. Let's just say that God's just about sick of all that crap- oh, and let's just say that just because you've never hurt anybody, or you had no idea you were buying stuff from people who did that, makes no difference- after all, ignorance is just an excuse, not a valid reason to be part of a massive system of injustice. And now that the fact that there is so much injustice is exposed- what is our excuse now? God is graceful, and God saves people, but God does not have favourites. That means that America in all it's glory is no more special a place than war-torn, third world countries. So, given that God loves everyone equally, don't you think he'd be the slightest bit pissed that a select few had decided that they were the special ones because they had all the money, and they were going to keep it? Now then, this doesn't mean God sent the hurricane, and it doesn't mean God hates you. It's merely a hypothetical, yet plausible and accurate reasoning for why God might hate what we better-off countries do with ourselves. But I'm not going to go as far as [url="http://www.godhatesamerica.com/"]www.godhatesamerica.com[/url] .. they're just a bunch of silly people who're more concerned about homosexuality than injustice in the world.

There seems a bit of a misconception here, that for some bizarre reason your dreams are concrete, whereas your idea of who your love is, changes all the time.. And somehow, it's only the love part that ever really hurts. Well, in principle that's kind of true. As long as your dreams stay as just that- dreams, then they can never hurt you. They make a good refuge from the surrealness of life. But I assure you that when you start trying to follow those dreams, that's when the hurt comes in there too- because you find that no matter what you really, really, dream for in this life, it's going to be hard to get. That's why love hurts- it's about as close as any of us get to actually pursuing a dream, and when the thing we dreamed about us goes against what we want, it really hurts. And life hurts just as much, when you chase after your "dreams".. It's only the persisent ones, the ones who're willing to not give up hope, that ever achieve what they really want. Hey, they're often the only ones who really know what they want in the first place. I find that dreams are anything but concrete, because when you actually start to pursue them, they change, and you start to realise more of what you wanted or take a sudden change in direction. Or maybe you re-discover what you really want, which you completely forgot about. You see, dreams and love are almost inseperable- certainly they're the same kind of thing. If you're going to get anywhere with either one, you have to stick at it. If you really love someone, you're going to let them let you down every now and then- because people do that. And if you really want to chase after a dream, you're going to have to cope with disappointment. Disappointment is like the barrier that separates those who might just succeed and those who never will- because those who refuse to keep going due to a guaranteed thing like disappointment, never succeed. Myself, I want my dreams, all of them, including love, but I want them in my life.. in this gritty, real life, with it's hurts and disappointments. Cos I don't want to get to retirement (a long way away I know) and still be hanging on to some dream which never left the confines of my mind.

[quote name='Bondage boy']for warning you, you will get heat for this post. i did an intro post and i got the warned. i also catch heat for no punctuation even though thats my style. i choose not to use punctuation in my poetry and id like not to use it here but its in the tos so i cant! :animeangr[/quote] ...oh my word.. that post could be picked apart on so many levels.. ironic that it's a warning against bad punctuation, I think... Though I think "I did an intro and I got the warned" should be in my top ten Otakuboards Quotes.. But yeah, I don't think Kilaria has a problem in that department by the looks of it..

Two of the most brilliant insights into this subject I've seen in a while comes from an unlikely source :p [url="http://www.boasas.com/?c=498"]http://www.boasas.com/?c=498[/url] and [url="http://www.boasas.com/?c=508"]http://www.boasas.com/?c=508[/url] The problem in many ways, with intelligent design is that people already feel like they know exactly what they're going to conclude, before they even look at any results. And bizarrely enough, despite the fact that it is generally Christians who do this, God had very little time for people who had closed ideas of what the world was like. By "closed ideas" I'm not talking about people who have morals, and aren't "open to new things" which might be potentially harmful- I mean people who just plain think they already have the answer, they're just searching for the questions.. for them the answer is "Evolution is wrong"... and they're looking for questions like "If people evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?" Which is a load of bull anyway :p Now then.. I have nothing against Intelligent Design.. I don't even have anything against Creationism in principle, but I do have something against the means by which many people go about supporting them. I mean.. come now.. God is really, really big, right? (I think you'll find that's a technical theological term :p) So how is it that he needs us to back him up?- How is it that he needs some little man to go and prove that he is real and that he created people-- because otherwise people might not believe it? And the last thing he needs is to be backed up by flimsy arguments, cos that makes him appear to be a flimsy God, yes? [QUOTE=Revue][color=darkgoldenrod][size=1]What if the evidence for ID has been staring at us right in the face all along? No, no. Just think about it. What if we misinterpreted some data relevant to the discovery of ID and took it as evidence for, say, the existence of neutrinos? The Big Bang Theory was founded from the red shift phenomenon; who's to say that some other undiscovered forces are interacting and meddling with what we're receiving here on Earth? Given the vastness and uncertainty of the Universe, it's possible that in our quest to find proof for the BB theory, we applied the wrong principles and consequently misread data. We sound like bunnies who see nothing but the single carrot dangling in front of them.[/size][/color][/QUOTE]... OK... so just how does red light prove that we were all created by God..?.. Though frankly, if we were to discover that there's some "undiscovered force" meddling with our data.. I'd be more worried about the fact that there's probably some fool with a red spotlight out there trying to convince us that everything's moving away.. That'd be a good one for the papers.. :p

As usual, the Westborough Baptist Boys seem to be having a good time in all this.. [url="http://www.godhatesfags.com/featured/20050831_thank-god-for-katrina.html"]http://www.godhatesfags.com/featured/20050831_thank-god-for-katrina.html[/url] I'll never understand those guys.. I don't think they'll die happy until they've thanked God for just about every disaster that can come upon a place. I just heard about this earlier today at work- that's where I seem to be hearing about a lot of things lately, like the London Bombings too (though I was the first of us to recieve the news in that unique case :p). I actually couldn't believe it- for one thing it seems incredible for something affecting the world so much (in that the whole world knows about it) could completely pass me by these days.

Heh- actually guys, don't worry about the evidence.. I only have a picture cos we happened to go visit Nasty when we happened to have a camera :p.. not everyone's going to have done that.. We were actually a bit disappointed when we got to Nasty though, cos we were really hoping for something like "The Nasty Tavern" or "Nasty Stores".. or something like that, but the village only had about 5 houses and a few fields to it's name :p. Though come to think of it, there's also a place called Crookes fairly near where I live.. I didn't say sooner cos I get so used to it being there that I forget it's kind of a funny name :p..

Oh yeah! I almost forgot about Lake Disappointment (Australia) and [b]Giggleswick[/b] (UK, Peak District)!!!

I don't think anyone should really become an adult until they reach my age. That way, everyone younger than me has to remain a child for the rest of their lives :D but no.. It's a very hard thing to judge. 18 is kind of a good age in that it is kind of a landmark. In the UK, it's the year when you finish college and go to uni (if you actually go to college- most people do I think)- but at the same time, looking back now, at the grand old age of 22, I can see just how immature I really was back then, and how much I've grown now. Also, knowing other people that sort of age helps me see it too :p. But hey, if we're going to put the age up on those grounds, we won't be adults til we're 35 or something. There has to be a line whereby you've matured enough to be classed as an adult even though you've some way to go. And personally, I'd say I wasn't really a true adult until about 20, but then everyone's different. 18 seems a fairly good number.

Well, about two weekends ago a few of us went down to a place called Ware, in Hertfordshire, which is in the south of the UK. And while we were down there, I was browsing through the street atlas when all of a sudden I found this place.. I could barely believe it, and it was quickly decided that we had to make a trip there just to see if there was some kind of sign there.. and we found one!! (see attachment) Now what I'm wondering, is 1- do any of you guys know of any equally silly place names where you live/where you've been, and 2- do you have any proof?!

OK, those are all good points- this is more of a clarification than an argument. [quote name='Bloodseeker']Christians are messed up people? Since when? I've known some messed up Christians, but no more than I see in the rest of society.[/quote]Well, look at it from this point of view- let's say that the Christian faith is right about a lot of things, primarily the idea of there being a God and an enemy of that God, called Satan. He'll do whatever he can to turn the vast majority of the population against God, so that God's plans for them won't happen. In theory, what better way is there to do such a thing than to try and get the people who are meant to be on God's side, to behave in a way completely contradictory to what they're meant to believe, in either a small or large, but either way noticable, way. Now, that's all well and good in theory, but it also happens a lot in practice.. now don't get me wrong, as I also made clear, I know a lot of good Christians, but at the same time there are a lot of bad examples out there to follow- a hell of a lot.. and although I agree that society is messed up too, but a lot of the time it can be observed that Christians are actually some of the most judgemental people out there, and yet also those very same judgemental Christians are the ones most prone to scandal. A Christian pastor falls into some kind of sin- and often the first to condemn him are the Chrsitians. "He should have known better" we say. Grace and understanding have no part in the equation. Nor does the consideration that any one of us is capable of making any great fall, and the most inaccurate thing we can say is "that [i]could never[/i] happen to me". Point accepted, there are just as messed up people in society. But given our message you have to admit that there is a hell of a lot of hypocrisy, which whether it was put in place by the Devil or not, it turns people away from the faith. There's people who persecute Christians because of their faith, and then there's people who want nothing to do with their beliefs (that is, of the individual, not necessarily the faith as a whole) for good reason. [quote]That isn't what donations are about. The idea is that churches need money for upkeeping just like every other place in the world. God's love isn't going to magically keep the place clean and prevent dry rot and cockroach infestations... they need to hire janiters for that. As for modern churches turning people away because they don't like the way that they dress or whatever... I've known people that stopped going to church because of that. When you decide that a person that dresses like a goth can't be a Christian, you're placing yourself a few notches above God, and as a church man, you're not supposed to do that, seeing as how the idea of church is that God is the almighty being that will accept anyone that will accept him.[/quote]Hey, don't worry, I know that's not what donations are about. But there is a little crazy phenomenon known as "prosperity gospel", which primarily puts forward the idea that that's exactly what donations are about- getting even more back. And actually the other problem applies to far more than just how we dress.. Is there anyone at all that you would decide "shouldn't be coming to church".. let's see.. gay people, prostitutes, that person that annoys the hell out of you just for fun? Jesus said that prostitutes (note: not repented prostitutes, but prostitutes) were entering the kingdom of heaven ahead of the Pharisees. That isn't meant to belittle the value of repentance- but to clarify it. Repentance is a turn of direction- even if you're still a long way off from being anything like God, if you're heading that way, you're repenting. But if you're very, very close (as the Pharisees were in theory) but moving away from him, you're not. It's not your proximity to the state God wants you in that decides your part in the kingdom of heaven- it's your direction. Jesus was drawing ordinary sinners nearer day by day- and even though they were a long way off, they were being changed, and who can deny that they were in God's kingdom, seeing as Jesus said it himself? [quote name='Bloodseeker']Is that any different from the rest of society? You pay your dues in the community, make contributions and encourage people to join, why shouldn't you get some recognition from the rest of the community?[/quote]Again, what did Jesus do? he took twelve ordinary guys. Today, you might have said "he took twelve ordinary schmucks off the street" and gave them stuff to do, and stuff to learn, and put them in charge of a big movement later on. The Pharisees had been leading the people in their faith for years, but Jesus didn't take the brightest and the best to lead his new thing he was doing in the Jewish faith- he took some fisherman, a dodgy tax collector, and other random blokes. The problem with the church is that we have so many "entry levels". You become a Christian, and then you get involved- but Jesus' model was that people got involved- and then it wasn't until three years later that Christians really started to exist! He got people involved in what he was doing long before they actually knew what he was doing. Whereas in church today more often than not you have to tick a box to say that you believe in a whole load of things before you can even help out with the church bookshop (if there is one :p). To put it a way that I've heard preached, many traditional (and a good few of the less so) churches have an entry pattern that goes behave-believe-belong. That is, first of all you obey the rules, then you become a Christian, and then you get to do stuff. But the way that Jesus did it was belong-believe-behave. First he got people involved, then they believed in him, and then their attitudes started to change naturally. And finally, the Kindgom of God isn't about "you've believed for 50 years, you can lead a church now". It's about being faithful with what you're given. If you're the church cleaner, then clean that church like it's never been cleaned before- and if you're the leader, then lead to the absolute best of your ability. Anointing doesn't just acculmulate with age- God either gives it or he doesn't. There are church leaders of all ages, and some of the younger ones are better leaders than the older ones. But it's interesting to note that God doesn't give out rewards in heaven based on what we [i]do[/i] here- but on how we use what we've been given. If the church cleaner performs to his utmost potential, and the pastor of the church holds back by a long way, although in theory the pastor may do a more important job than the cleaner, the cleaner has done everything he can, and on that ground he will be rewarded for it, and the pastor much less so- because God made us all equal despite our differing abilities, so he will reward us equally in relation to how well we use our gifts- not how many gifts we have- because he gave them, right? [quote name='Bloodseeker']That's the whole recognition thing... its not wrong to put somebody in charge if they've been making contributions and pushing the faith. But what is wrong is when they start to view themselves as some giant entity that practically next to God. I've known people that left the church because the guy that ran the place seemed to think that he was holy himself.[/quote]Yes, but it is wrong to be seeing yourself as on some holy league table as I said. And like it or not, contributions and pushing the faith come from more kinds of people than just leaders of churches and ministries. The problem as I see it is not that we value contributions, but that we only value ones that we deem to be important. The problem with holy league tables is that it inevitably involves comparing yourself to others, and deciding for yourself whose contributions matter most- but at the end of the day, if everyone's pulling their weight, no-one's contributions matter any more than anyone else's. Leadership is not something that should be given on the basis of your contributions necessarily but because of your giftings. Obviously your giftings will often decide what your contributions are, but sometimes people just rise up out of the blue. As for recognition- if we take the biblical message seriously, we will get all the recognition we want in heaven, and then some, both good and bad. Everything good and everything bad will be there on display- the only way around it is to "beat him to the punch" :p as I heard it put so well once. Get as much of the bad stuff out while you can, so there are not as many nasty surprises for those you know. (By the way, I'm not saying you need to bare every nasty secret to everyone you meet- but it's important to confess our sins to one another, as the Bible also says :p). [quote name='Bloodseeker']Contributions to the faith again... even pastors and evangelists deserve recognition if they make strides towards spreading the faith around society. And did they put that good ministry in place? If so, that makes them a good leader. Good leaders know who to put in charge of what. That's one of the biggest roles of a leader. On the other hand, I always think that its stupid when people assume that someone's right just because they're in a position of power... one of the biggest problems in the US today is that a lot of people just let the government think for them most of the time. It took them until things started going really bad for them to see what was wrong with the war in Iraq... they just assumed that the government had planned everything out perfectly.[/quote]As I said, good leadership isn't shown by the [i]size[/i] of your ministry. It's more by the quality of it. And from the outside, that is a very hard thing to tell, so we tend to go by it's size because we think that's a pretty fair indicator. Good leadership, as you say, involves knowing who to put in charge of what. But Christian leadership isn't simply about making your ministry get bigger and bigger, but it's about actually improving the state of people's spiritual lives. So good Christian leadership is a completely different thing- it's about knowing how best you can help people to grow in their faith. And one of the best things that has happened to many churches in the UK is the introduction of cell groups. People don't just go to church to hear the preacher preach any more, they're meeting up in the week in these groups, and discussing their faith and generally forming community. And when a cell group gets to about 15 people... it splits! Good Christian leadership is also about knowing when you need to spread out rather than just grow. The great thing about cell groups is that it's a small enough community to get to know people- whereas if you're in some big church, you're just part of an anonymous crowd. Although church sermons and stuff can be essential to the christian faith, we're finding that it's just as important, if not more so, to have a small group with which we can discuss our faith and genuinely know each other. I go to a church which apparently has around 2,000 people in it. But without cell groups, we wouldn't be any different from any other anonymous crowd, but with a Christian background. It's the fact that there's real community that counts. In fact, we [i]never[/i] tend to meet as a whole 2,000 odd at all. Instead there are various different services that go on- ranging in number from 60 to 600. Now I'm not saying that we're perfect as a church- however that way does seem to make a lot more sense. There's not as much dazzle and good looks as 2,000 people in a crowd, but there is much more discipleship going on in a deep way. The big question is, what is the Christian faith about- hearing a message or helping each other keep it in our hearts? Arguably both, which is why I'm very passionate about the strengths of cell groups alongside church services. And the thing is, cell group leaders contribute no less to the people than the big leaders, and our church understands that. The only difference is in the types of responsibilities, not the importance of the person carrying those responsibilities out. [quote name='Sage]Oh geez, not [i]another[/i] thread morphed into a religious debate! First the hangings of gay teens in Iran, then the silly dinosaur thread, and now [i]this[/i']? All in the last month! Give the subject at least a break, guys![/quote]Hey come on now.. the original post was on about the messed up-ness of some guy's preaching about how some other guy should be shot. The messed up guy was Christian, and I commented on the messed-up ness of Christians, and bloodseeker responded. Other than talking about messed up Christianity in a different way, I really don't think we're off topic. (Pardon the lack of technical terms and names, it's 1:15 am and I really need to sleep) And uh.. Christianity is a religion, technically :p like it or not

although actually, there are a few people in this world who genuinely want to produce drinks and stuff with no additives of any sort, just the raw ingredients. The most prolific one in the UK is [url="http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/"]http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk[/url] that is, if you can get the damn link to work. I've been to the site before, and I swear I did actually get through :p but right now it's a no-show the basic idea is that these guys make fruit smoothies- but rather than just make fruit smoothies, they.. well, actually yeah, they just make fruit smoothies.. not fruit-and-god-only-knows-what smoothies. Which hey.. they may not be as bad for you as people may think.. but at least there's someone out there trying to get right back down to basics :p These guys have done pretty good though- those drinks are sellling all over the country, even in Sheffield :p, and they've built up a good reputation for themselves (they're costly though- £2.97 (about $5?) for a 1L (just under 2 pints) carton of the stuff- but that's cos they honestly don't pad the drinks out with water and stuff to make it taste like they've not padded it out with water :p)

[QUOTE=Harry]It's ok, he doesn't really believe anything he says. He just says that because his followers want to hear it. You don't want to mess with a man that can [url="http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/shake.asp"]leg-press 2000lbs.[/url][/QUOTE] Apparently this guy has his own "age defying" protein-shakes, protein-pancakes and antioxidants! I dunno, frankly he doesn't look that young to me

I'm sure they'll be delighted that they have an enitre thread dedicated to them :p.. but what actually is the topic? ...oh right.. (couldn't resist sorry :p.. what I mean to say is I don't think this is meant to be here, and you can either delete the thread (can normal people still do that?) or have it closed or something. your choice ;) ) Have a good'un

What has to make me laugh the most is the two things that were happening at roughly the same time. Chavez (the non-Christian guy, it seems): "Let's help lots of people restore their sight for free!" Robertson (the "Christian" guy): "Let's Kill Chavez!" In a nutshell, of course. Reading between the lines and all that. Personally I think he's acting very Christian. The reason behind that is that a lot of Christians are very, very messed up people. There was once a time when Christians were hated because they were just so damn persistent to preach salvation through this guy who none of the other religions believed was the son of God. And they were loved because they truly did their most to pool together and help each other out, as well as helping the poor. And they were well known for not turning anyone away- in fact one of the main cultural problems with Christianity is that people didn't approve of different classes of people being in the same room. Whereas these days, it's all "we hate gay people- oh no, no, no.. we [i]love[/i] them, but we [i]hate[/i] what they do!" (or in the case of [url="http://www.godhatesfags.com/"]www.godhatesfags.com[/url], not even that small allowance of love is given) "we don't like this", "we won't stand for that", "you're not allowed in church cos you do this!".. And then there's "If you give God some money, he'll give you 10 times back", "If you recite some crazy little prayer we made up it means you're saved and best of all, you get to spend forever with US!!" (If you see all of the above, it's your cue to start running!). Of course, the main problem with church is that it's inhabited by people. The other main problem is that we have a label "Christian" that we wear with pride. If you're a Christian you get all the perks- you get to be involved in stuff, if you stick with it for a few years you get to lead stuff, and if you're a 50 year old Christian maybe you get to lead a church!.. but if you lead church from a young age, and you're a 50 year old church leader, now that's anointing!!! Don't get me wrong. I'm a Christian, and I think God is great. I even think that a lot of Christians are great- I really wouldn't have stuck with this without them. What I don't think is great is stupid theologies and the mentality that Christianity is some kind of league table where everybody's trying to make it into the Most Holy spot at the top of the league, leaving all the others trailing in their wake. Christianity is about being the body of Christ. Everyone helps each other out- if someone's a church leader, that doesn't make him the Holy One of the church, it makes him the one responsible for that church. In other words, it's probably more important that a church is well-led into good teaching (unlike "let's kill that guy!") than that they have a leader who seems to be doing pretty good by himself. Even if the guy has a 25,000 strong church, it does [i]not[/i] make him a good leader. It might just mean he has a lot of people in this God club where everyone's in on this little salvation secret thing. Fact is, you can't tell whether someone's a good leader by whether or not they have a big church or they're on TV or whatnot- it's only when they make stupid statements like that that you can tell whether or not they are a good leader. Of course, the majority of people know that, but there seems to be a little Christian myth, that goes "hmm.. he's got a good ministry.. he must be right!!" and a lot of Christians can get ensnared by it. The bible says to weigh up everything that is said to you against everything in the scriptures.. not against the size of someone's ministry.. bleh.. I'm done with my random ranting for now :p

[quote name='Gavin][size=1']Personally I think people should stick to their true nature, though if pretending to be something you're not brings you some measure of happiness and doesn't cause misery to anyone else, well I guess there's not really anything wrong with it. [/size][/quote] There's only one disagreement I have with that- and that's the whole nature of happiness and being yourself. I really believe that it's not really possible to obtain a worthwile measure of happiness through not being yourself- because no matter how good it may seem, deep down you know that this is not the way you really are.. True happiness and being other than yourself- I consider those two to be mutually exclusive. Sure, you could be [i]successful[/i]- but success (in the sense of money, friends, possessions, what have you) and happiness are different things. Not opposites to each other, but neither one is necessary for the other to be present. However, people do have many, many different depths of self- I talk with my housemates about stuff that I wouldn't talk to my workmates about- and I talk to people I have met already differently to how I talk to people I meet for the first time. The key is to not see (or make) each of these layers as a different mask which we put on in each situation- but to recognise that we aren't going to talk to someone we've just met this second about the fact about our deepest secrets and insecurities, not because we're a different person, but because they don't know us deeply enough to need to know that. On the other hand, showing people interest in order to manipulate them into being your friends when under normal circumstances they wouldn't-- that's nothing to do with depths or layers- it's just plain lying.

[QUOTE=Hells Angel][b][font=Comic Sans MS][color=orange] I just want to ask a random question, Which are you Christian or Not or other? and please if you would explain why. =)[/color][/font][/b] [b][font=Times New Roman][color=darkorange]I am not a christian, But I do believe in God, I dont go to church because I hate hyprocrites, I smoke and cuss, so until I can get over these habits I wont go to church. But thats just me. What about yawl?[/color][/font][/b] hah im listening to D.H.T Listen To Your Heart Dance Mix, I love this song lol..okay sorry..anywho .. :animeswea[/QUOTE] [color=mediumturquoise][b]Firstly, do NOT get out of the habit of hating hypocites :p whether you end up going to church or not. As for smoking, there's not a verse in the Bible that says "Thou shalt not smoke" (or "You shall not smoke", if you tend to go by the NIV as most of us Christian Englishmen do :p), however there is a constant barrage of harsh words against the hypocritical, and those who put sacrifice before helping out the needy and dejected- as though they were two completely seperate things![/b][/color] [b][color=#48d1cc][/color][/b] [b][color=#48d1cc]Oddly enough, Jesus had better things to say to Prostitutes who were trying to find him, than he did to Pharisees who weren't. And the even more startling thing is that when you truly look at the context of culture and what Jesus was really saying, the modern day Pharisees are all around us. Anyone who spends their time on theologically justifying themselves, without lifting a finger for those in need- or anyone who knows all the Christian rules like "no gays", "no sex before marriage", and "give 10% of all your income to the church" but doesn't know how to love their neighbour.. is nothing more than a Pharisee with a different title. Because Jesus never said to the Pharisees "actually I think you'll find your theology is wrong there"- he only ever challenged them on the stone-coldness of their hearts and lack of love.[/color][/b] [b][color=#48d1cc][/color][/b] [b][color=#48d1cc]And if there are any Christians reading this, getting infuriated because I'm describing them down to a tee and condemning them, this isn't meant as condemnation- it's meant as a way of showing you that rule-based Christianity is no better than rule-based Judaism. It is only when our faith displays a genuine compassion that we're going to be the Christians we're meant to be.[/color][/b] [b][color=#48d1cc][/color][/b] [b][color=#48d1cc]So yeah.. You've probably guessed that I'm a Christian.. but "Christian" has so many different rules and connotations attached to it, that I don't think I am, and definitely don't want to become, the kind of "Christian" that people come to expect when they hear the word.[/color][/b] [b][color=#48d1cc][/color][/b] [b][color=#48d1cc]By the way, what is the "other" in "Christian, not, or other"? :p[/color][/b]

I think for me, there are a number of things- mostly musical things. My guitar, bass and keyboard are all very important to me, in that order :p. And as of a few days ago, I have a small Djembe (a kind of African drum) and this bizarre shaker thing which has the beads netted round the outside rather than inside it- both of which I got as a gift for looking after someone's house the other week. So yeah.. music is very important to me. And if my computer were to die, erasing all of the musical stuff I'd been playing about with, I think I'd probably have a heart attack.

If anything, I'd probably be well known for my music.. simply because that's all that seems to occupy my mind when it comes to creative stuff. Though right now, I'm only really working on a guitar, keyboard, microphone, and PC, so the results aren't spectacularly amazing, but still I have a short clip online, which can be found at [url="http://www.danlucking.velegant.com/storage/Nothingtolose.mp3"]http://www.danlucking.velegant.com/storage/Nothingtolose.mp3[/url] Only thing is trying to motivate my mate Chris into learning the drums, and finding a few other people for a band :p. But still, there are thousands of bands out there, and whether or not they make it big is pretty hit and miss, so I may well never be well known at all :p

[quote name='Farto the Magic][quote]INTERESTING SPINES: Hallucigenia: One of the creatures that suddenly emerged in the Cambrian Age. This and many other Cambrian fossils have hard, sharp spines to protect them from attack. One thing that evolutionists cannot account for is how these creatures should have such an effective defense system when there were no predators around. The lack of predators makes it impossible to explain these spines in terms of natural selection.[/quote][color=darkgreen][size=2]I just thought it would be interesting to consider, but maybe the predators were soft invertibrates, which don't fossilize very well. I mean, starfish are predators that wrap around their clam victims, pry them open, then secrete an acidic liquid. Maybe the spines stopped the evil starfish monsters from eating them. Food for thought.[/size'][/color][/quote]There's also the fact that the evolutionists can't explain it, but then again neither can those on the side of intelligent design.. I mean, think of it this way: God gave this creature huge, sharp, protective spines, when there's nothing around to eat it.. why on Earth did he do that? Bear in mind that regardless of whether you believe in intel;ligent design or evolution as the way which all things came about, nature is a finely honed environment, where you're pushed to find many attributes which don't have any purpose in any one form of life. The question for debate is whether God/some higher power designed it that way, or whether it came about by itself. And something as random as that is as much a blow against intelligent design (because apparently it's been designed for a completely opposite environment to the one it's in) as it is against evolution. By the way, I'm for intelligent design.. but [i]against[/i] really bad arguments for intelligent design. It just annoys me that some people can say on one hand "Only a higher power could have designed something that fits together as well as this" and then say "LOOK! There's one that doesn't fit! Surely it's the higher power's work! Take THAT evolution!". Which I'm sure it really is God's work, but whichever way the evidence points, evolution always has to come last with some people. (The majority of this post wasn't actually aimed at farto the magic, more adding to what was said :p)

Now then, Now then.. I don't have time right now to look through this entire thread at all that has been said, so I'm just going to have to say my opinion and come back later. :-p I'm a Christian, but I believe that being a Christian is much more than a set of principles and a timetabled weekly set of events which keep you right with God. I believe that God set Jesus to die for our sins on the cross, and the reason for that isn't just because we are extremely bad people, but that God is and extremely good God. I believe that the world around us is messed up and that the human race ias a whole is full of the most insecure and wounded beings conceivable. But behind the insecurities, and the things we put on to cover them up, people are made in the image of God. Everyone is basically good, but the world is a messed up place and far too often people are taken in by it and do atrocious things. I believe in the Devil as ultimately the source of evil, but I don't believe that he necessarily causes all evil, he merely uses it. All kinds of people and things contribute towards the evil in the world, because ultimately this world is falling ever increasingly into evil as one evil prompts another in return, and very rarely do people break the loop. That's a very simplified version of what I believe- but essentially I believe that God didn't just send Jesus to the cross to die for our sins, but to die to give us life in a world which is in a falling orbit around death. I don't just think he wants us to feel guilty, be sorry, and get a second chance- because quite frankly we're going to mess up however many chances we get. He wants to draw out the good things he's already put in us and clean up the mess that the world around us has put in us (where that aspect of the world around us is our own creation that we just can't get away from). I believe he wants us to live and not to just edge increasingly closer to death. There's more but unfortunately dinner's ready and I dunno if I'll get a chance to come back on later..

Well I myself am, or have been Deus Ex Machina, Dan L, and the Three Hundred Foot Potato. We are the Less Than Holy Trinity. (Dan the Tuber, Dan the Man, and Dan the Less Than Holy Spirit Type Thing) As far as I know, we have no OB relatives. We're just kind of a little triangle to the side of the OB Family Tree :p